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Daedric Alphabet
features the phrase "Shadow Hide (Y)ou" along the nose piece.]] The Daedric alphabet is found all around Nirn, mostly in ancient books like The Bible of the Deep Ones and The Tome of Unlife. Also, the Dunmer people of Morrowind seem to use Daedric symbols in some of their writings, often as names of locations written on banners. There is no Daedric language, a common misconception, only the letters of English words substituted for their Daedric equivalents, some may refer to it as a font but most Daedric letters are too dissimilar to be associated with. Neither are they symbols, runes, glyphs etc. Alphabet History and origins Daedric alphabet is the written form used by the Daedra and Dunmer of Tamriel. The alphabet is strongly affiliated with magicka. Daedric letters are often referred to as sigils, with various scrolls and tomes, such as the Mysterium Xarxes, written in the Daedric alphabet. The exact source of the alphabet is unknown, it is believed to be the creation of the Daedra themselves, then passed down to the mortal realm. Various symbols have Daedric glyphs, as it is the dialect of change. The PC versions of and were shipped with a Daedric True Type Font. Writing customs In Morrowind, the Dunmer peoples often write words in a cluster form, instead of the standard left to right. Though in , none of the Daedric writings seen in the game are written in cluster form. It would seem that the word cluster is a Dunmer custom, thus being found prominently throughout Morrowind. Character set The Daedra use their own calligraphy, but the underlying language is closely similar to the Modern Cyrodilic language. The following is the best known Daedric character set. Some letters, such as Doht, Hekhem, and Jeb, have alternate forms. This is due to inconsistencies of these letters throughout the video game series. A possible explanation is cultural differences between the provinces of Morrowind and Cyrodiil, the two areas of Tamriel Daedric writings are seen most. The naming convention of the Daedric lettering strongly resembles that of the real-world Phoenician alphabet. X and Y Officially there was no x or y in , yet some veterans may have noticed the y was used in "Tel Fyr", in all other words the y was just omitted. The letter y is used in such as on the Mages Guild seal yet the y is omitted in the Mysterium Xarxes and on the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal: "shadow hide ou". Pervasiveness of the "O" symbol The symbol for Oblivion and Oblivion Gates, both in concept art, and on the in-game map is the Daedric letter for "O". The "O" appears again on the hilt of Mehrunes Razor, as well as on Spell Tomes and Skill Books associated with the school of Conjuration in . On box art *The box cover, as well as the Mysterium Xarxes, reveals plot information about the game. Along the sides of the box, repeated along the border, it says, in Daedric, starting at the top left corner: ::"For Lord Dagon forever reborn in blood and fire from the waters of Oblivion." * box art has daedric writing on it. On the triangle are the daedric letters A, S, and V, representing Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec, respectively, or the Tribunal. On the borders of the box are the six great houses of Morrowind: House Redoran, House Hlaalu, House Dres, House Indoril, House Dagoth, and House Telvanni. *The box art has Daedric writing around the box, same as its base game, . It reads around the cover "There is no genius without a touch of madness.", a quote from the Epistles of Seneca the Younger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger. *The Box art for The Elder Scrolls Online has daedric text written on it. It reads: Ah lormanta Molag Bal hie ghartok hoom altadoon va Nirn. The words seem to be from different Tamrielic languages like the Aldmeri Languages and Ehlnofex. It translates to something like With Dark Anchors Molag Bal lowers his hand upon Nirn. Other appearances *The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal has the phrase "Shadow Hide Ou" scribed on the nose piece. The "Y" was omitted. *The popular webcomic Homestuck of mspaintadventures.com employs aspects of the Daedric Language. Coincidentally, in the comic, the alphabet is primarily used by a race that is similar in both culture and physical appearance to the Dremora. *The script also appears in season 3 episode 16 of the 2008 Syfy television series Sanctuary inside a cave in East Africa, said to be ancient Vampire script. ''The Elder Scrolls Online'' *In the ESO trailers, one can see the use of Daedric script on this tablet. ''.]] *Also, it is uninterpretable. This is possibly because they are changing the script so that the alphabet is just for pronunciation and must be translated word by word instead of letter by letter like the Dragon Shout from Skyrim. *Given other art in the game, however, it's most likely just gibberish. In the ESO area of Coldharbor, ruled by Molag Bal, a circular symbol is frequently found in the floor. This is a horned Daedric head surrounded by the Daedric characters reading "COLD HARBOR LD HARBOR - LD HARBOR BALMOLAG BAMOLAG BAL COLD - " It is sometimes surrounded by a larger circular pattern, the outside of which bears the repeated inscription "ROBRAH RULES" with every letter other than the second R flipped horizontally, and the final S also flipped vertically. The word ROBRAH is almost certainly just a copy of the "HARBOR" word, flipped to make it look different; the word "RULES" is most likely just a collection of random runes with no meaning. External links * Translation of the Daedric alphabet de:Daedrisches Alphabet es:Alfabeto daedra ja:Daedric アルファベット ru:Даэдрический алфавит Category:Daedra Category:Languages Category:Culture of Oblivion